Don't Look Back
by fragmentalis
Summary: "What the hell are yeh doin' in moy car?" Sheamus demanded, ignoring the tear tracks on Maryse's cheeks. "Just drive, okay! And don't look back!" One-shot. Rated T for mild sexual content.


**Don't Look Back****  
**

**A/N:** I love Sheamyse an insane amount. I don't know why, I just do. I want them to happened so badly. Rated for sexual content.

**Disclaimer:** I claim no ownership to the characters, Everything belongs to WWE.

**Summary:** "What the hell are yeh doin' in moy car?" Sheamus demanded, ignoring the tear tracks on Maryse's cheeks. "Just drive, okay? And  
don't look back!"

~!#$%^&*()_+

She should have known it all along. Maybe deep down, there was an inkling, a hint of doubt that she tried to ignore over the past few months. Suspicious phone calls, mysterious departures from their hotel room, not to mention his rather...interesting reputation among the female locker room.

Maryse should have known Ted DiBiase would not stay faithful to her, but the fact was, she was ignorant to it. She would always dismiss the strange behavior he exhibited as stress, or the pressure he felt from their boss, Vince McMahon.

Never had she actually considered that she would walk into their hotel room after a long gym day to find Ted intertwined with a woman she had never seen before. They hadn't heard her at first.

They remained melded together, their mouths connected and their hands searching out any bare skin exposed on the other.

Maryse inhaled sharply, finally catching their attention. Ted did everything but build a brick wall to put space between him and the unknown female he had previously been groping.

"What the hell?" Maryse uttered mindlessly, her brain ceasing to function for a moment, refusing her anything else to say.

"Maryse-" Ted tried to speak, but Maryse wouldn't let him get any further than her name.

"What the _hell_!" Maryse repeated, significantly louder this time.

"It's not what it looks like," Ted grasped for an explanation, finding only the one.

"Not what it looks like? It looks like I caught you with this-this-" Maryse searched for something to call the girl who was in the room.

"Tramp!" She settled on, and the girl didn't get defensive about it. In fact, she shrank away from Maryse's intense scowl even more than before, clearly abashed.

"You don't need to talk to her like that-" Ted should have known better than to go that route, and Maryse rounded on him again to let him know just that.

"You don't need to tell me what I don't need to do. What you need to do is start giving me some answers about what the hell is going on here!" She shouted, making the young brunette look more afraid than ever.

"Who is she, anyway?" She demanded, eyeing the girl, and that was an appropriate description, who appeared reluctant to allow Maryse any foresight into who she was.

Ted sighed hesitantly. He seemed to have the same reservations. Maryse clenched her jaw to let him know there was no escaping the question.

"Her name is Julie. We met about three months ago when I went home to Tampa..." He trailed off, not wanting to finish.

"Three months ago...I was supposed to go with you but I had to stay on the road...I can't believe you..." Maryse reflected on the time, her voice fading off.

"I didn't expect it to happen either," Ted pleaded with her, momentarily forgetting that 'Julie' was even in the room with them. Maryse paced back and forth for a moment, contemplating her next move.

"Do you love her?" She asked suddenly.

"No," he answered her just as suddenly, and as though it were the biggest joke he had ever heard. The brunette's eyes glazed over as she heard this, and Maryse knew why. Ted had probably told her countless times that he loved her, and probably even that he'd leave Maryse for her.

Julie was probably figuring out now what Maryse already should have known. Ted loved himself, and that was as far as it went.

Ted watched Maryse carefully after he answered her question, not knowing that it was actually the wrong one.

"Everything they told me about you. Everything they said was true. You use people... Vous êtes égoïstes,"

Ted looked confused. Her speaking in French usually rendered him so, but the first part of what she said didn't make any sense either.

"What 'they' said? Who is they and what did they say?" Ted questioned her, but he was in no position to interrogate her.

Maryse gave him a defiant look before turning on heel and taking her leave. She struggled to keep her eyes dry and to maintain her confidence, but as he began calling after her, she began to lose that battle.

Things became worse when she started to hear his footsteps behind her as well, so she sped up a bit, taking the stairs to ensure that they would not end up on an elevator together.

She couldn't bear to talk to him, or even look at him any longer. She wanted to execute her words perfectly, to let him know that he would not hurt her one bit, but he had taken that confidence away from her.

She wondered when she would get it back.

"Maryse! Wait!" He continued to shout after her, as she reached the hotel lobby. He was only feet behind her, so she quickened her pace once more. She threw the door open hastily, ignoring the annoyed looks from other patrons, before finding herself in the comfort of the brisk evening air.

She knew she had only a few seconds to get away. She couldn't take the car she had rented with Ted. The keys were in their suite.

She bit her lip and went over her options. She could catch a ride with a friend. She looked around, only to see that none of them were outside.

What could she do?

"Merde..." she whispered to herself. She could envision Ted reaching the door now, and that's when she saw her opening.

There was a car located right in front of the hotel. It had 30-day tags, so it was probably a rental, and if it was a rental, it probably belonged to a fellow WWE employee.

Lo and behold, she saw the familiar red hair of Sheamus peaking out from under his flat cap, as well as the rest of him walking towards the car. He unlocked it at a distance, so Maryse took her opportunity.

She ran, thanking her lucky stars that she happened to be wearing sneakers instead of heels, and pried open the passenger side of the car and climbed inside.

She tried to steady her breathing, watching as Ted stood just outside of the hotel, looking confused at her actions.

She didn't know exactly why she was trying so hard to get away from him. It would probably have been wiser to act like an adult and talk things over with him. Break things off in an official capacity, maybe. But she couldn't look at him right now. There was an orb of pain settling inside her chest, making her breath hard to keep track of, as she watched him from the window.

She heard the driver's side door open and the weight of the car shift a bit, and she looked at Sheamus who had a perplexed look on his face. She feared what he might say.

Her eyes felt wet, as he continued to eye her.

"What the hell are yeh doin' in moy car?" He demanded, ignoring the tear tracks on Maryse's cheeks.

Maryse tried to come up with an answer, but she took a second to look back at Ted, who she was chagrined to see heading straight for them.

"Go..." She whispered.

"What?" Sheamus inquired, wondering just what her problem was.

Ted inched closer to the car.

"Just drive, okay? And don't look back!"

Just when Sheamus was about to demand that she get out, he spotted Ted DiBiase walking towards them. Looking back at Maryse, he saw the wetness under her eyes, not to mention pure dread.

He looked back at Ted and sighed before powering the ignition and peeling out of sight of the hotel.

Maryse gasped from the motion of the car, and the sudden feeling of cold air whipping through her hair, since her window was down. She just kept looking back in the direction of the hotel, before remembering she had told Sheamus not to look back and deciding to follow her own advice.

She looked over at her riding companion, grateful that he hadn't kicked her out of the car, though she knew he had wanted to.

Sheamus kept his eyes on the road, not knowing if he should regret his decision to allow Maryse to stay in the car. He had done a good job of keeping to himself and staying out of other people's business up until now. He didn't even want to think about the can of worms he had just opened.

Still, the look in Maryse's eyes threw him off balance, and he could almost feel her need to get away from Ted DiBiase as fast as possible. He couldn't bring himself to leave her there.

He had just stopped at the hotel to drop off William Regal, after which he intended to go stay at another hotel, since the other one had no vacancies. But of course, a beautiful woman just had to climb into his car and demand to ride off with him in the sunset. He chuckled under his breath when he considered that none of this was figurative.

Glancing over at Maryse, who had leaned her head against the open space where the window normally was, he decided that things could be worse.

However, for Maryse, things seemed much more bleak. She sobbed silently, for she didn't want Sheamus to hear her. She figured him for the type of person who would feel extremely uncomfortable in that situation.

Luckily, the radio was at an acceptable volume, playing rock music Maryse had not heard in years. Mostly, she was thankful for the distracting noise.

Her stiff body shivered from the cold air that wouldn't let up, but she couldn't find the strength to move even an inch.

The pain had spread from her chest and was gathering at many junctures now. Other than that, she felt numb. She wasn't sure if it was from the biting cold, or her refusal to let her mind compute anything. She was almost thankful for it. She tried to focus on the goosebumps that labeled every inch of her skin. The air hitting her eyes, making her vision even blurrier than the crying alone could.

The light from the sky was dimming fast. The sun was out of sight, and the cloudy expanse was turning gray quickly.

The first few drops of rain were the most shocking, stinging Maryse's face with an icy hostility. All of her hair was fluttering out the window, and now it was becoming drenched. Maryse imagined all the knots it must have had by now, cringing at the thought of having to brush them out. It was a tame thought though, so she ran miles with it. Anything to keep her mind off of what she had left behind at the hotel.

"Why don't yeh let me roll yer window up? Ye're gettin' all wet, lass," Sheamus tried to be polite, though he wasn't great at it.

Maryse didn't answer him. She didn't know if she could even find her voice.

He considered that she may have been asleep. He touched her arm gently, intending to shake her awake, but he heard a firm "No."

Maybe her voice _was_ still there. She wouldn't be moved, not now. If the cold was taken away from her, what else would she think about?

No, she would remain where she was, cold and wet from the rain, and numb from the pain.

Sheamus sighed, wondering what could have upset her so much that she would want to hang her head out the window in freezing cold rain.

He turned the heat up, though he was already warm, hoping that would help her at least a bit. She would probably get sick from all this.

Maryse imagined how clammy her skin must have felt now, compared to normal skin. She could feel a twinge of heat on her legs which almost amplified the cold she felt on her upper body. She figured Sheamus must have turned the heat on. She almost smiled at that. That was nice of him.

Sheamus wiped a bit of sweat from his forehead, as the heat inside the car was intense for him. He didn't know what he was supposed to say to her. He told himself again and again that he shouldn't care what was happening between Ted and Maryse, yet he felt inexplicably horrible inside whenever he caught a glimpse of that look in her eyes.

He knew she was crying, and it made him extremely uncomfortable. But it also made him search for the words to say to make her stop. He couldn't come up with any.

Maryse couldn't move a muscle, she was so cold now. At least she had achieved her goal of rendering her mind unable to wander. All she could think about was the cold...

She closed her eyes, unable to stare at the blurring lights of the city any longer. The sky was black and starless, cold and empty, hopeless and desolate. What a fitting sight to be her last, she thought, as her mind began to drift away. Before it was gone completely, she managed to wonder if she would wake up.

Maryse's next sight was a dim, fuzzy light, more orange than white like the stories she'd heard about near-death. She had to catch her breath as she slowly came into her mind, as she began to notice she was encased in warmth. She remembered the cold well, and what she felt now was an inconceivable opposite.

She felt her hair clinging to the sides of her face, still damp from the rain, so it couldn't have been that long ago. Her limbs felt bound to her body, and she tried to figure out why, opening her eyes all the way and trying to focus them.

She faced an unfamiliar wall, covered by an elegant, gray arabesque pattern. She tilted her head slightly down, wincing from the pain that shot through her neck, and saw that there was a soft red blanket wrapped tightly around her.

She struggled her way out of it, trying to ignore the pain that weighed heavily on her. Her black t-shirt was still damp along with her hair, and she tried to smooth some of the wrinkles out of it.

She wondered where she was, and how she had been moved from the car without being woken up. She also wondered where Sheamus was, as she was alone in the dimly lit room. She was in a bed, a hotel bed she knew for certain, and she saw from the window that the sky was still as black as wet asphalt. The rain was still coming down, though at this point, it sounded more like a torrential downpour. Maryse was glad to be out of it marginally, though now her mind was free to wander back to the emotional agony she couldn't seem to rid herself of.

She attempted to stand, and wobbled a bit at first, a rush of dizzying darkness staggering her momentarily. As she finally got the hang of moving, she approached the window, seeing the distant lights of the city from a floor much higher than the first.

She gripped the windowsill, fighting the urge to strain her eyes to see the hotel she'd left behind. It would have been no use anyway. The lights were but radial blurs in the heavy rain.

She heard a faint voice from beyond the cracked door, and she was desperate to be in the company of someone, so she decided to go investigate.

Opening the door, she noticed a pale light filtering in from the next room, and by the way it flickered and changed, Maryse figured it must have been from a television. She gathered some courage and entered the room, seeing the silhouette of Sheamus' red hair on the couch. His hair was down and void of gel now, as opposed to its normal spikiness.

He was watching some type of cartoon, which didn't seem very characteristic of him, but then again, Maryse didn't know him that well.

She approached the side of the couch so he would note her presence. He looked surprised when he finally caught sight of her, and suddenly Maryse wished she had looked in the mirror before coming out of the bedroom. She must have looked like death.

"Ye're awake..." was all he could think to say, as he just kept staring at her. Maryse wore a weak smile, before nodding just as weakly.

"Where are we?" She asked in a raspy voice.

"Olympia, at the Phoenix Inn," Sheamus informed her, awkwardly playing with the arm of the couch.

"Wow," was all Maryse could muster. Seattle, where they had been, was a good sixty miles away.

"I thought yeh'd want to be far away," he added, not meeting her eyes.

Maryse smiled widely at him. He had driven her all the way from Seattle to Olympia, at her request not to look back.

"Thank you," Maryse beamed at him, and she could tell he was a bit uncomfortable with the sentimentality she was giving off. She decided to move on from it.

"Wow, hanging out the window in freezing rain for over an hour, that's not good..." Maryse reprimanded herself, wondering why she had acted so childishly.

"Ah pulled yeh back in not long after ah tried to the first toyme," Sheamus told her regretfully, for fear she would get all sappy again.

"Thanks," she said it more offhandedly this time, which he seemed pleased with. But she was touched to the core, and while she couldn't show it outwardly, she was smiling brightly on the inside.

"Ah figured yeh'd want to take a shower, so ah laid some towels and things for yeh in the bathroom," Sheamus notified her, and her eyes lit up.

"That sounds merveilleux," Maryse sighed, and Sheamus didn't have to understand French to know she liked the idea.

Maryse's face soon turned back to it's tired state as she came to a realization.

"I don't have any clothes with me," she declared sadly, mindlessly seating herself on the arm of the couch that Sheamus had draped his arm over. His arm was now touching her leg, though she didn't notice it. Sheamus awkwardly moved his arm, before answering her dilemma.

"Ah put one of my t-shirts in there fer yeh. I didn't think yeh'd mind," he told her, and she smiled at him again.

"I don't...Thank you," Maryse responded, wishing she could think of something else to say. She was sure she'd begun to sound like a broken record.

Tossing away her hesitations, she leaned down and wrapped two eager arms around his neck, not caring that she had smacked him in the face with her tangled hair in the swift motion.

It caught him off guard, to say the very least. He self-consciously patted her back, until she finally let go of him and excused herself to the bathroom. He was glad she had left when she did, or else she would have seen the small smile that accumulated on his tired face.

Maryse was set on trying to brush through her long, blonde hair, and she knew it wasn't going to be an easy task. Catching sight of herself in the mirror, she almost jumped back in horror. She was as pale as Sheamus was, with dark circles under her eyes from her running mascara. She cringed dramatically, before leafing through the straight-forward drawer. There was some plastic hairbrushes inside that she would have to settle for, though it was going to be that much harder. She decided at that moment to never let wind touch her hair again, because this was ridiculous.

She readied herself with the brush, combing it through the first tangle, getting held up on it. She held the hair near the root tightly to prevent some of the pain, but still, ten minutes later she emerged from the ordeal with a massive headache. Still, she was tangle-free and happy about it.

Finally she was able to get in the shower, and she was sure that as soon as she felt the hot water on her skin, a miracle was occurring. She had never felt anything so pleasant in her life, and she smiled the whole way through.

She was thrilled at feeling clean and warm, and even a bit revitalized. As she slipped on Sheamus' shirt, she came to find it was practically a dress on her. It reached all the way to her knees, and yet she still felt scantily clad somehow. She eyed herself in the mirror again, frowning at the fact that she would have to remain void of make-up for now.

She was a little embarrassed when she returned to the living room portion of the room, and she hesitated a bit behind the couch, unbeknownst to Sheamus. She tried to pull the shirt as low as it would go past her knees before finally flopping down on the couch beside him.

He smiled at her, appearing amused at her wearing his shirt, which made her face turn scarlet.

"Feel better?" He asked, meeting her eyes. She nodded with a forced grin, as she was still a little embarrassed.

It was strange, Maryse thought, as her eyes remained on his face. She'd never noticed all the freckles he had. The bright light he was under when performing must have whited them out, because they stood out rather well now. Maryse smirked at him as his attention was focused on the television. The freckles were rather cute.

After a few moments, Sheamus looked at Maryse with a tired expression, and she knew what he was thinking.

"Time for bed, endormi?" Maryse asked him, a teasing smile on her face.

"Looks that way, lass. Yeh can have the bed, and ah'll take the couch-" Sheamus began to say, but Maryse interrupted him.

"Pas! No...I've put you out enough. I'll take the couch...Pas de soucis," she insisted, attempting to push him off the couch with a laugh.

"All right, if yeh insist," he replied, still unsure. She nodded determinedly.

He brought her the very same blanket she had woken up in, and a couple of pillows from the bed to prop herself up. He leaned over the couch wordlessly, and was about to head to the bedroom, but Maryse called for him to wait.

"I know you're not the sappy type, but I just wanted to thank you for all you've done for me," she told him, her accent seeming stronger than ever, and she'd wondered if he'd understood her.

He gazed over her, searching for something to say in response. He opened his mouth a few times, but decided against it every time.

"It's okay. Je comprends. You don't have to say anything. I just wanted you to know," she whispered, smiling at his awkwardness.

"What are yeh goin' to do? I can't harbor yeh forever," he finally said, and that wasn't what she expected. Definitely not. She felt a lump in her throat form as she remembered that she could not hide from reality forever, and that she would always have to come back to it. Now she was the one at a loss for words.

"I'll figure something out tomorrow, I guess. I can't think about it right now," she said in a strained voice. Her vocal cords were experiencing friction from the welling up of emotion she had been trying to avoid all this time. She certainly didn't want him to see it. She heard him sigh from up above her.

"Good night then, lass," he muttered.

"Bonne nuit," she said, distracted by his question.

She heard his heavy footfalls fade into the bedroom, as she hugged the blanket more tightly around herself. This is what she bad been afraid of. Her escape was coming to an end. She had half a mind to just remain with Sheamus in Olympia forever, but she was forgetting that he wanted no part of her complicated life.

Hell, she wanted no part of it either.

The fact remained that there would come a time, probably sooner rather later, where she would have to see and talk to Ted again. She couldn't get the image out of her mind of him and that girl. Kissing, touching each other...he touched that girl the same way he would touch Maryse, and that thought alone made her feel sick to her stomach.

She was taught this unrealistic idea of love. She had grown up with dreams of the perfect romance. The type any girl would kill to have. The type even the stars of Casablanca couldn't imagine.

And she thought it all came in the form of Ted DiBiase. He was young, handsome, rich...she thought he was perfect. He was her dream come true. The one lesson she had never been taught is what to do when the dream ends. Where you're supposed to go when you've woken up. Maryse was at a loss for direction.

She felt more alone than ever there on that couch, and it was a debilitating feeling. The cold was gone, the warm had returned, and with it, the memories of a dream she knew was just an illusion.

She began to tremble under the pressure of her thoughts, unable to stand them any longer.

She threw the blanket off of her and forced herself up, climbing over the back of the couch in an effort to be free of it even faster. She couldn't bring herself to falter, her feet continued to move despite how unsure she was. She pushed the thought of knocking aside and entered Sheamus' bedroom without a proper invitation.

The light was still on, and she caught him in mid-stride between the bathroom and the bed, wearing nothing but his boxers. His bare chest seemed to glow under the light but she ignored this, and met his confused eyes.

He was half-naked, and so was she, but she was past that ill at ease feeling.

He continued to question her with his eyes, probably because he couldn't think of anything to say at that point.

"What's wrong with me?" She asked seriously, folding her arms to her chest protectively, ignoring the fact that the action caused the shirt to lift even further above her knees.

Sheamus' eyes widened at her random question, and he looked around, perplexed.

"Ah don't-"

"Am I delusional to think that Ted ever loved me?" She persisted in her series of incomprehensible inquiries.

"Uh-"

"Why didn't I see it? I could've saved myself so much grief," she continued, her eyes shining with the tears she had been keeping from him the whole time.

"Ar mhaith leat labhairt in iúl dom?" He interjected firmly, finally catching her attention.

"What?" She blurted out, her mind temporarily calmed.

"Well, yeh've been speakin' in French all noyt, thought it was moy turn to confuse _you_," he answered her, looking a bit pleased with himself. She smirked reluctantly, despite her teary eyes.

"I sound crazy..." she trailed off with a huff. He must have thought she was one of the most ridiculous people on the planet.

"A bit, lass. But ah figure hurt moyt be a better way to put it," he replied, catching her attention once more.

"It does hurt," Maryse whispered, her voice straining once again.

"Mauvaise," she added, her bottom lip quivering. She couldn't stop herself, she marched across the bedroom and wrapped her arms around Sheamus' middle, leaning her head against his chest, letting herself cry. She didn't care anymore.

She wasn't expecting him to reciprocate, so she was a bit taken aback when she felt both of his hands firmly pressed to her back, holding her to him.

"Ba mhaith liom raibh mé in ann cabhrú," he whispered.

Maryse wished she knew what he had said, but she didn't ask him. She just continued to lean against him in silence.

"Ah see yeh're not too proud to let a man take care of yeh," Sheamus joked, after a few moments.

It _was_ just a joke, but it brought even more tears from her eyes.

"Yeah, I've always had that problem," she sobbed, and the sudden outburst almost made Sheamus drop his arms in surprise. He licked his lips and considered for a moment, whether he really wanted to involve himself even more in her life.

He stared down at the top of her head, as she shook in his arms, and he rolled his eyes in a doubtful circle, and tried to choose his next words carefully.

"Back in Ireland..." he trailed off, clearing his throat before continuing. She looked up at him curiously, sniffling all the while. He almost lost his nerve as he stared down into her brown eyes...they were the brightest brown eyes he had ever seen. They soon became what was egging him on.

"Back in Ireland, there was a lass I knew...Her name was Emma. I met her in a pub in Cabra. We were both longtime wrestling fans," he reminisced with a smile, which spread from his face to Maryse's.

"I think I know where this story's going," Maryse giggled, momentarily distracted from her own situation. She continued to stand there with her arms wrapped around him, staring up at him expectantly. Sheamus sighed.

"I bet yeh all the shillings in the world yeh don't, lass," he responded with a sad smile. This wiped the grin from Maryse's face, and she concentrated on his story once more.

"She was lovely. She had these brown eyes that just lit up every time she smiled," Sheamus continued, staring down into the very eyes that took him back to that time. They were fixed on him sadly, and he couldn't quite place the sadness.

Maryse felt a weird twinge of pain in her heart hearing Sheamus talk about Emma's eyes while he was staring into hers...while he was _holding_ her. She struggled to ignore it, and to continue listening to him.

"Anyway, ah started to see more and more of her at the pub. She would always say hello, but it took me weeks before ah got up the courage to say anything more than that," he went on, and Maryse almost laughed at the thought of a nervous Sheamus trying to chat up a woman.

"Ah know yeh're tryin' to picture it. Don't try and hoyd it," Sheamus said with a chuckle, drawing a laugh from Maryse's mouth.

"So did you ever ask her out?" She inquired, snuggling against him.

He guided them both to the bed to sit down, but they didn't let go of each other.

"Yeah ah foynally stopped bein' a coward," he laughed.

"She actually said no the first toym, but I kept at it, until she said yes," he explained, and Maryse wondered who this girl must have been to make Sheamus want her so much.

"So?" She was genuinely interested to find out how it turned out.

"It got to the point where ah was going to ask her to marry me," he replied, knowing what she meant. Maryse's eyes got wide, but her mouth remained still and unaffected. She couldn't see the man in front of her falling for someone so deeply. It occurred to her that she really didn't know him at all, but she was compiling a desire to.

"You 'were' going to?" Maryse repeated, predicting that the relationship had went south before that had happened.

"Ah had already bought the ring. Ah didn't really plan any big romantic occasion. Somethin' ah always liked about Emma was that she was never really into all the big romantic gestures," Sheamus continued, and Maryse cringed under his words. Was that particular trait of hers impossible to work with?

"What is it?" Sheamus asked her, the reminiscent light in his eyes fading away as he saw her changed demeanor.

"Nothing, go on," she said in one breath, not missing a beat. She liked that look in his eyes. She didn't want it to go away.

"Ah'm afraid the story isn't gonna be so happy anymore," his face fell a bit, and his grip on her slacked even more. She felt like he was miles away from her. She felt alone again.

"Ah got the call the day before ah was gonna propose. She was drivin' someone home from the pub the night before. She got...she got hit by a drunk who-who was drivin' home from another pub..." He finished, a hopeless look stitched to his tired face.

Maryse shared the same expression, her eyes locked on his chest, watering a dangerous amount. He had let go of her completely now. Agony hung in the air, as she searched for words to say. Was this the reason he was so guarded? Why he was so reluctant to help her?

"I can't believe I...had the nerve to complain about-" Maryse couldn't finish, she broke off into a fit of tears.

She felt Sheamus' hands on her back again, and it may have held even more comfort than before.

"Ah didn't tell yeh the story to make yeh feel guilty. Ah just...yeh're gonna lose people. It's life, lass. Ah've been there," he responded, but her tears did not subside.

"Ná cuir caoin," he pleaded with her, and she looked up at him. The Gaelic language he used intrigued her.

"What did you just say?" She asked him, wiping her eyes.

"Ah told yeh to stop croyin'. Ah don't like seein' yeh like that," he admitted, and she was surprised how relaxed he seemed sitting so close to her while she was emotional.

"Sorry, I just...don't know what else to do. If I keep thinking about what happened, I'm gonna go crazy. But if I try to escape reality, I guess I'm already crazy," Maryse explained, shaking her head furiously at all the thoughts flying around inside of it.

"Ah can't tell yeh what to do," Sheamus responded, taking in the sight of her eyes again.

"No one can...can they?" She thought out loud, her voice once again lost in sadness.

"All ah can do is give yeh a piece of advice. Just do what feels royt," Sheamus advised her, the light returning to his eyes.

Maryse had never noticed how blue they were, in the right light. She could still hear the rain pouring down, the sound mingling with the sound of their own soft breaths.

"What feels right..." Maryse echoed his words, trying to find just what the right thing was. She was still pressed against him, soaking in his warmth, and she found herself to be wrong about cold temperatures being the only good diversion.

She thought for a moment, placing her palm against his heart, feeling the faint pulsations. It made her smile. She couldn't believe all he had done to take care of her, even though he had been concealing his own pain. He hated letting people in, and yet he had done it for her.

She just might have owed him her life.

"I'm glad you came along," she muttered under her breath, leaning her head against his bare chest again. He didn't say anything, but she felt his palm against her neck, and his face buried in her hair.

"Ah didn't mean this, lass," he whispered in a husky voice.

Maryse ignored him, pressing her lips to his chest lightly, and she heard his breath hitch. She let her lips hover slightly over his skin, letting her breath do all the work. His hand dropped from her neck to her back, feeling nothing but the fabric of the t-shirt that covered her, and he frowned slightly.

Satisfied that he would make only the one protest, Maryse lifted her head to look at him, and there was unmistakable lust in his eyes.

She leaned forward and kissed his throat, working her way up to his jawline, looking him in the eyes when she was able to.

She finally found his mouth, and unleashed everything she could in that moment. His fingers found her hair, and entangled themselves throughout it, as Maryse's tongue melted into his. They remained connected this way for an undefined amount of time, until Maryse could no longer restrain herself. She stood up and pulled him along with her, burying her face in his chest as his thumbs hooked the bottom of her t-shirt, pulling it over her head, leaving her hair a golden fountain over her bare skin.

He placed both his hands on her shoulders, beholding the sight of her. She was left in nothing but a bra and a pair of underwear that didn't match each other. She followed his eyes down and blushed as she realized this.

"Ah see you turnin' red. Trust me, yeh have nothin' to be embarrassed about," he told her with a sincere smile, before claiming her mouth in another heated kiss. She almost laughed under the weight of his lips at his words, but she settled for touching his back just to feel his skin. She pulled him as close as she could, his hands gripping her waist firmly.

Maryse couldn't help but remember the times like these with Ted, but she was amazed by how distant it all seemed now. There was no pain accompanying those memories right now. It had never been like this with him, Maryse thought, as she allowed Sheamus to lift her up, wrapping her legs around his waist as he groaned at the contact.

Sheamus twisted towards the bed, laying Maryse down gently, but never interrupting the way they were linked together. When they finally broke the bond between their lips, Sheamus dipped his head to her collarbone, nipping at it teasingly, as she moaned her appreciation of his actions.

As he continued to kiss all the way down to her ribcage, his fingers deftly removed the straps of her bra and pulled it down to where he was. He lifted his eyes to take in the sight of her, and he couldn't believe how perfect her body was.

He nipped at the tender skin beneath her naval, and she inhaled sharply, causing him to chuckle against her skin. She felt every vibration, and it made her feel more alive than she had ever felt.

He trailed his way way back in the direction of her lips, pausing at her breasts to kiss his way around them. Maryse at to bite her lip to keep quiet. She could hardly stand to lay there and let him tease her like this.

"Please..." she exhaled, and Sheamus met her eyes with the most perfect, alluring smirk she had ever seen. Her eyes were dark slits, and her lips were swollen from biting them.

As soon as Sheamus was within reach again, she pulled him down to her, welcoming all of his weight which he had been trying to hold back. She nibbled his lip as they kissed, wanting to send him close to the edge just like he had done to her. He seemed to have more self-control than she did.

"I need you, now," she whined, arching into him. She pleaded with her eyes as well.

"Je vous en prie," she added, which seemed to finally register with him.

He couldn't remove his boxers fast enough, before hovering over her with expectant eyes, and she nodded as determinedly as she could.

She didn't even get the chance to explore him before he was inside of her, both of them crying out at the first thrust. He was being very careful, much to Maryse's vexation.

She lifted up again, to receive more of him, moaning as she did so. It caught him off guard, and he almost lost his balance and came down on top of her. Maryse had to close her eyes and wonder if she was just dreaming again, but another thrust nearly shattered her thoughts.

She never knew it could be this perfect, this compatible. Sheamus was taking it slow, and Maryse was becoming accustomed to the pace, not wanting it to end anytime soon.

Maryse pulled him closer, their lips meeting once again, as their kisses matched their thrusts, steady and perfect.

"Hmph!" She let out a high-pitched moan, as he reached a place inside of her she wasn't familiar with. Her back arched involuntarily, and her fingers gripped his arms firmly, as he approached that very spot several times, until she felt like she was going to burst into flames at any moment.

"Oh! Sheamus!" She yelled out, and she didn't care who heard her.

"Ah..." he groaned, knowing he was close to the breaking point.

"Ah'm...Ah'm close..." he grunted, his thrusts at a quicker pace now. He wondered if she had heard him.

Maryse couldn't form words anymore, even in her mind. She didn't know what Sheamus was saying, all she knew was that she was in a dark oblivion, surrounded by the most beautiful sounds she had ever heard.

"Oh! Mmm!" And just as quickly as she had spun away, she floated back down, suddenly hearing Sheamus's clear words ringing in her ears.

"Did ah hurt yeh?" He was breathing heavily, but he sounded concerned.

Maryse let out an immature whine, as he withdrew from her, though he mistook it for a pained cry.

"Ah'm so sorry! Ah got a little carried away," he muttered apologetically.

"I don't know what pain is, anymore," she stated dreamily, stretching against the pillow.

Sheamus figured she was just trying not to make him feel bad, as he slipped his boxers back on.

"I wouldn't put those back on if I were you, unless you want them to get ripped off," Maryse sighed contently, rolling over on her side to face him.

He gave her that smirk she had seen not long before, and a feeling of bliss welled up in her stomach.

"So...yeh...didn't moynd it?" He asked sheepishly, avoiding her eyes.

"Let me put it this way, bien adoré, you won't be getting rid of me anytime soon," Maryse informed him in a sweet voice, shifting up to her knees to kiss him from the bed.

"Ah think ah'm okay with that," he replied, handing her his t-shirt when they pulled away.

"I think I'll pass on that," she told him in a captivating voice, before leaning back on the pillow and crossing one knee over the other, wearing a keen expression.

Sheamus' eyes were wide, but his smirk soon returned, as he inched towards her on the bed. He stopped just short of her, though.

"What about Ted?" He muttered tentatively, not wanting to upset her. All he knew was that he wanted her to stay with him, not thinking about what she had left behind. Not looking back.

"Ted who?" She chuckled, wearing a defiant smile, before pulling him down to her again.

**A/N:** OH MY GOD THIS TOOK ME FOREVER TO WRITE. This is officially the longest one-shot I have ever written, and I've written a lot of them, believe me. Forgive the lackluster sex scene...lol it was the first one I've done, so hopefully it's passable. I hope you liked it!


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